Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Walt Whitman

Have I mentioned how much I love him? I love him. I am moved to tears everytime I read his work. Here is a quote I got from a recent Poets Against War mailing (www.poetsagainstwar.org):



From the 1855 Preface to Leaves of Grass

Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown, or to any man or number of men-go freely with powerful uneducated persons, and with the young, and with the mothers or families-re-examine all you have been told in school or church or in any book, and dismiss whatever insults your own soul; and your very flesh shall be a great poem, and have the richest fluency, not only in its words, but in the silent lines of its lips and face, and between the lashes of your eyes, and in every motion and joint of your body.

No comments: